Ireland prepare for Scotland and chance to secure the Six Nations a week early

It could be over by Saturday evening. Ireland, indeed, could all but slam the door on anyone else’s chances of the title by mid-afternoon. If they beat Scotland with a bonus point, England will have to win with a bonus point in rain-lashed Paris just to retain a mathematical interest. For context, rain-lashed Paris is where Ireland themselves could only squeeze home tryless in round one, courtesy of one of the more remarkable drop goals in championship history.

Since then, they have built steadily, unveiling something new with each round, so that they now stand on the edge of supremacy. Their two most formidable challenges await, but if Ireland deal with the first with sufficient authority, only the small matter of a third grand slam in their history will trouble them come the final round.

Scotland, visitors to Dublin on Saturday, have their own ambitions to sate. They remain in the hunt for the title themselves, but they will have to find the emotional maturity to follow up the euphoria of the win over England with a rarity. The last time they won a championship away day elsewhere than Rome was in Dublin, as it happens, in 2010 – albeit on the other side of the Liffey at Croke Park.

It is not only the English and Scottish hoping against hope for a repeat. A Scotland victory would transform at a stroke the now-customary “Super Saturday” of the final round into something approaching a sequence worthy of the name.

Either way, Scotland’s most recent triumph at Murrayfield has elevated this fixture as the game of the round for the connoisseur. It is No 3  playing No 5 in world-rankings terms, but the shifting dynamics in the form and fortunes of these two are every bit as compelling.

Source: theguardian